Monday, March 18, 2019

Tom K. Ryan 1926 - 2019



T.K. Ryan, creator of King Features' long-running TUMBLEWEEDS comic strip passed away March 12, 2019. He drew the strip for 42 years, from 1965 to 2007.

Details are scant at this time.

From his Lambiek page:

Born in Anderson, Indiana, Tom K. Ryan attended both Notre Dame University and the University of Cincinnati. He started his career as a commercial artist, designing football helmets, but also drawing editorial and sports cartoons for local newspapers. Out of boredom, he started reading Western Literature. This resulted in the creation of an innovative newspaper strip called 'Tumbleweeds', which combined the Old West with a hip, modern approach.

Originally syndicated by Lew Little Syndicate, it first appeared in 1965, and was then distributed to over 300 newspapers by King Features until Ryan's retirement from the strip in December 2007. The strip has been collected in many paperbacks, and has even been made into a musical, that was performed in Las Vegas in 1983. 'Tumbleweeds' has inspired many comic artists, including Jim Davis, creator of 'Garfield', who assisted Ryan from 1969 until 1978.

More:

King Features tributes him on Facebook

The T.K. Ryan page at the Farley Funeral Home in Venice, FL. 

The official Tumbleweeds site 

The Daily Cartoonist obituary

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